GAESEONG, NORTH KOREA Urban Pulsar

Cities pulsate in combinations of different rhythms: heartbeats of the citizens, daily commute patterns, seasonal fluctuations of temperature, annual or longer-term changes in population, etc. Each city is like a pulsar, a star with a unique pattern of pulsed appearance of emissions.
The Gaeseong Industrial District (GID) is a subject of our case study to explore the theme of an urban pulsar for the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. Located to the southeast of the ancient city of Gaeseong, the GID had approx. 55,000 North Korean workers and a few hundred South Korean managing staff by the time of its sudden but expected closure on February 2016.
All North Korean workers at the GID commuted to work from outside, since no residential facilities existed. The GID became an instant city, a city without residents, gaining and losing its population every day, like a pulsar with its repeating emission pattern.
We hope to take this Biennale as an opportunity to show why cities should be planned to have more emphasis on the inner-city residential programs for higher quality of life of its citizens and also for more efficient investment initiative on urban infrastructure.